Today, while wandering around the halls of SIGGRAPH 2022 in Vancouver, we caught up with someone from Intel who told us that discrete Arc graphics cards would launch a lot sooner than the end of the year.

Although we just reported yesterday that Intel formally announced product shipments before the end of the year, we were able to grease some wheels here at SIGGRAPH 2022.
Although our source would not give the exact date, they could confirm that the current plan would see product availability by the end of summer.

Unfortunately, our source was quickly whisked away by coworkers, so finding out much more about the upcoming launch was not possible. What this does mean is that since the fall equinox arrives on Thursday, September 22, 2022, at 9:04 P.M. EDT / 9:04 P.M. PST in the northern hemisphere, according to our source, we should be seeing Intel Arc discrete graphics cards for purchase in the next 45 days.
We were shown the actual market and shipping-ready box on the show floor containing a fully functional Intel Arc A770. We were told that press samples should be shipping shortly.